This is the sequel to 'Sinterklaas, Shawn Spencer's Dutch Holiday'. Thank you to EvE79 this request and all the information she has given me. Please note, I have used the information I have been given and what I could find on the internet. I am saying sorry in advance if I have anything interpreted and/or listed anything wrong in this story. I mean no offence by it.

Author's Notes: This is the sequel to 'Sinterklaas, Shawn Spencer's Dutch Holiday'. Thank you to EvE79 this request and all the information she has given me. Please note, I have used the information I have been given and what I could find on the internet. I am saying sorry in advance if I have anything interpreted and/or listed anything wrong in this story. I mean no offence by it.

Koninginnedag is translated into Queens Day and it is a big thing for the two cities that the queen of Holland visits during this time. The rest of Holland just celebrates the day.

Story Notes: Shawn finally takes Gus on the Dutch holiday he had promised him.

Shawn and Gus' Dutch Holiday: By islashlove

Chapter 1: Konginginneda: A Very Orange Holiday

Gus took a deep breath of the fresh morning sea air. Glancing over at Shawn he could see he was looking around for something. Shrugging his shoulders, Gus decided to take in the sight of the North Sea and the small fishing village in this lovely spring morning sunlight.

He couldn't remember when he last felt this relaxed or at peace with himself. Shawn had promised him a holiday in Holland a few Christmases ago and Gus was surprised when, just over a month ago, Shawn turned up at the Psych office and informed him the holiday had been booked.

Gus couldn't deny he was a little disappointed that they weren't going at Christmas time, especially after the way Shawn had described it, but Shawn had promised him that the Dutch were still celebrating a very special day and that they were going to be there for it.

And from all the excitement and preparation that the towns were doing as they travelled through, Gus was sure it was going to be an amazing holiday.

They had been backpacking since they arrived a week ago and they still had a week left of their holiday, but for now, they had arrived at the spot where Shawn had met his Dutch friend Sen and Gus guessed that was who Shawn was looking for.

It wasn't long before Shawn had walked away from where they were, following the shore line and it wasn't much longer after that that a small farm house came into view. Gus could also see a man walking towards them.

"Sen," Shawn called out as he waved at the man.

"Hello, is that you, Shawn?"

"Yes," Shawn replied as they reached Sen. "How are you and Evelien doing?"

"We are good. We're just getting ready for Koninginnedag tomorrow," Sen said as he and Shawn shook hands. "And who is your friend?" Sen added as he looked at Gus.

"This is my best friend Burton Guster, but I just call him Gus. Gus, Sen. Sen, Gus." Sen and Gus shook hands.

"Well, pleased to meet you, Burton, and please, call me Sen."

"Nice to meet you, too, Sen and please, call me Gus."

"Well then, Gus, Shawn come on inside. Evelien was starting to worry you weren't going to make it."

"This is the first time Gus has been to your wonderful country, so we took it slow so we could both appreciate its beauty, especially at this time of year."

"Ahh, you always say the nicest things. Now come on in." Sen led his guests to the house and called out as he walked through the door. "Evelien, Shawna and his friend have arrived."

Gus looked around the room they had just entered. It was a quaint little kitchen and standing near the stove was a woman who was hugging Shawn. Then Shawn and this woman walked over to him.

"Gus this Evelien and Evelien this is my friend, Gus."

Gus watched as Evelien gave him the once over, smiling all the way.

"Well, pleased to meet you, Gus. So you will be joining us for Koninginnedag, then?"

This was the second time Gus had heard this word and to be honest he wasn't sure what it meant.

"I think so," Gus said confusion etched on his face. "Please, don't be offended, but, what is Koninginnedag?"

"Ahh…" Sen said from behind them. "Koninginnedag means Queens Day. It is the day we celebrate our Queen Beatrix reign. Come, sit with us and I will explain a bit more," Sen said as he headed through another door.

"Go, follow Sen. I will bring in some tea," Evelien said as she turned towards the stove.

"Do you want some help, Evelien?"

"Now, Shawn, off you go too, I'll be fine."

"OK, come on, Gus."

Gus followed Shawn into a little lounge room. It was nice and warm and the morning sun was giving it a lovely sunny glow. The two men walked over to the couch and sat down facing Sen who was sitting in an arm chair.

"We'll just wait for Evelien and I will start. So Gus, what do you do?"

"I am a pharmaceuticals salesman."

"Now there is a good and honest job. So Shawn, have you worked out what you are going to do with your life, yet?"

"Sort of, I'm a consultant for the police back in my home town and run, along with Gus here, a private detective agency, been running it for about six years now. That's right isn't Gus?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Well…another good job. I'm glad you found your calling."

Just then Evelien appeared in the doorway carrying a large tray. Gus being the closest got up and gave her a hand.

"Well thank you, young man. Shawn, you have such a lovely friend here."

"Thank you, Evelien."

After they had all been given a cup of tea and a piece of cake, Sen brought Evelien up on what Shawn and Gus were doing with their lives. Then they all sat back to listen to Sen explain what Koninginnedag means.

"So, you want to know all about Koninginnedag, do you?"

"Yes please," Shawn and Gus answered together.

"Very well, Koninginnedag, or for you two, it is Queens Day and it is the day our Queen Beatrix visits two cities. The cities are usually in the same Province and are near to each other and although it is very special for these two cities, the whole of Holland celebrates.

When the queen visits, she travels in her own personal bus and she also takes her whole family, but only the grown-ups. So the royal party consists of her sons and daughters-in-law, her sisters and their husbands and grown children."

"So it really is full on," Gus said in amazement.

"Yes, it is, as you say, full on. Every school and most companies and shops are close for the day and all the public and government buildings HAVE to raise the Dutch flag. It is also the only day we can fly the wimple." When Sen saw the confusion on Shawn and Gus' faces he continued to explain. "A wimple is a piece of orange material that is shaped like a long neck tie. Anyone who has either or both and has the ability to raise them does so.

As for the two chosen cities, they have spent the last year preparing for tomorrow. A lot of the larger more major cities will be putting on music festivals; there is a lot of singing and dancing, drinking and games. Smaller towns and villages like ours have free concerts, vrijmarkt, which is like a…I think you call a flea market, but there is lots of other stuff as well, which you will see tomorrow."

"You said there is a lot of drinking, doesn't that cause a lot of trouble?" Shawn asked as he remembered a few drunken fights he had been in.

"Not usually, there has only been one real tragic event a few years ago, not related to drinking, but otherwise, most people are on their best behaviour."

"We love our Queen and I think that is what keeps us all good."

"But this year is going to be different from all the other years. In fact, it is going to be an historic event," Evelien added.

"Why's that?" Shawn asked as this information seemed to excite her.

"Well…earlier this year, Queen Beatrix announced her abdication and that her son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander will be our King. Although this is sad news to hear, it will be the first time we have had king in 123 years."

"So tomorrow won't only be Koninginnedag, it will also be the day that Crown Prince Willem-Alexander will be crowned king. And as of next year we won't be celebrating Koninginnedag, we will be celebrating Koningsdag, Kings Day, instead."

Has anything changed because of it?" Gus asked.

"Except for Willem-Alexander being crowned, nothing special has been planned, except for another day, which has yet to be announced, to thank Queen Beatrix for her reigning period. Anyway, we need to finish getting ready for tomorrow." Sen moved to get up.

"Well, Sen, tell me what you want me to do," Shawn offered.

"I'm in for that too," Gus piped up.

"Ok, Shawn, you can give me a hand outside and, Gus, you can give Evelien a hand in here."

"Sounds like a plan," Shawn said as he followed Sen outside and Gus followed Evelien into the kitchen."

"Do you like to cook young man?"

"Yes I do, why?"

"Well we need to do the cooking for tomorrow and decorate inside the house. Think you are up to it?"

"I think I am," Gus replied giving Evelien a smile.

As they prepared the food, Gus noticed that no matter what it was, there was something orange in it.

So, orange is the main theme for Koninginnedag?"

"Yes it is, and any of the food that I couldn't make orange will be decorated with something that is orange."

"Ok, sounds interesting. Just one question, with the change of queen to king, will the colour orange change as well?"

For that Evelien gave Gus a smile.

"No, the colour orange will stay; it is part of Holland and will never be taken away."

Once they prepared the food and it was cooking they made their way back to the lounge and Evelien got out table cloths and other orange materials to decorate the walls and chairs. Gus was really having fun and couldn't wait to see what tomorrow was going to be like.

Outside, Shawn had given Sen a hand to decorate the outside of the house with orange streamers and set up their flag pole so they could raise the flag and wimple first thing in the morning.

It was late in the evening when they had all finished and after Shawn, Gus, Sen and Evelien had all had a bath, they ate a wonderful dinner and prepared for bed.

"Now are you two ready to Oranje boven tomorrow?" Sen asked.

"It's either that I need to sleep, Sen or you just said something in your native language, but whatever it was, I'm sorry, but what did you say?" Shawn asked with a very tired smile.

Both Sen and Evelien started to laugh.

"Sorry, I meant, are you two ready to Orange up, tomorrow?"

"Orange up?" Gus said shaking his head.

"Yes, you must be dressed in orange tomorrow and the weirder the costume the better.

"Oh, that. Yeah Sen, I brought some orange clothing for us." Shawn turned and headed to the room he and Gus were sharing. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Sen, Evelien, see you in the morning." Gus said before following Shawn.

The sun was just rising when the lovely smell of cooking woke the two men up. Shawn was the first to get up and he dressed in his orange costume. Looking in the mirror, he was happy with the orange suit he had chosen, he looked like an orange business man. He turned and looked at Gus, as he heard his friend groan.

"Come on, Gus, wake up."

Gus let out a loud yawn and opened his eyes and then tried to hold back the laughter. Then he remembered that Shawn had also picked out his costume as well.

"Shawn…"

"Your clothing is in that cupboard there and I will meet you in the kitchen." And with that Shawn was gone.

Gus just got up and opened the cupboard, groaning and shaking his head, Gus got dressed; he would talk to Shawn later.

He could hear Evelien gasp when he walked into the kitchen. He knew that this was a mistake, but that was before Evelien walked over to him.

"You look great. You really are in the spirit of Koninginnedag, I am glad of that."

"Thank you," Gus said as he looked at Shawn.

Shawn was trying to hold back the laughter. There was only one way to describe Gus right now and that was that he looked like an orange Mad Hatter.

After they had breakfast, they all went outside and raised the flag and wimple and then they headed into the village for the day.

Both Shawn and Gus were amazed at all the decorations and the costumes that everyone was wearing. As they made their way down the street they could see the activities that had been set up. Over the day, they helped to judge best decorated bike contests and they joined in with activities like koekhappen, which was where a cookie had been put on a wire and they were blindfold and had to try and get the cookie. The catch was they had to have their hands behind their back.

They visited the vrijmarkt and brought a few things and Shawn even had a go at spijkerbroek hangen, where he had to literally hang on to jeans. The jeans had been hanged up on a line with the legs hanging down. Then you had to hang on to the legs as long as you could without touching the ground. Gus wasn't too sure about doing this one.

As the day wore on and the drinks kept flowing everyone started to sing and dance the night away. It was very late by the time the four of them made it home.

They all sat down and drank the pot of very strong coffee that Evelien had made.

"Well, Sen, Evelien," Shawn said, "a toast." He said as he raised his cup of coffee. "Here is to Queen Beatrix and King Willem-Alexander. Leve de Koningin, Leve de Koning. Long live the Queen, long live the King."

"Same to you, Shawn," Sen said.

So, they toasted out the Koninginnedag and welcomed in the Koningsdag.

Shawn and Gus enjoyed a couple more days with Sen and Evelien, before they had to leave, in order to catch their flight home.

The End

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